Uprooted Palestinian

Uprooted Palestinians are at the heart of the conflict in the M.E Palestinians uprooted by force of arms. Yet faced immense difficulties have survived, kept alive their history and culture, passed keys of family homes in occupied Palestine from one generation to the next.

Tuesday, 20 March 2018

In an exclusive interview with al-Ahed News, Russian Ambassador to Lebanon Alexander Zaspkin discussed the importance of the 2018 Russian Presidential Elections in Russia and the region, pointing out to the massive voter turnout and landslide victory of the Russian President.

The Russian ambassador hailed the great public embrace of President Vladimir Putin’s persona, the fact that expresses a clear adherence to his independent approach and his stance against Western hegemony attempts.

Zaspkin believes that there is a promising future awaiting the Russians, as well as an important stage of optimism and hope.

When asked about the importance of the 2018 elections and what made this year different, the Russian ambassador said, “We noticed a higher turnout than previous years. The public’s vibe was very positive,” adding that “People were close and united with regard to the personality of President Putin. Results showed a higher voting rate than before.”

Zaspkin explained that “Russia’s important stances regarding the ongoing regional events, was the main reason and primary motive for the Russian public’s preference for Putin’s persona over any other.”

What is noteworthy is that Putin’s landslide victory reveals a lot amongst Russians; it is intended to send a message, both internally and externally.

“To begin with, internally, their choices show satisfaction towards the goals set by Moscow for coming years, with regards to economy, health and education, among others,” Zaspkin said, adding that “people in Russia want to move forward with the aforementioned plans and see them executed.”

To the outside world, Russians want to uphold their stance on Putin’s foreign policy throughout the past 17 years. “The more dangerous the situation gets, the more persistent the Russians become towards the master of the Kremlin, his independent approach and his fight against Western hegemony attempts and Washington’s efforts to create a unipolar international system,” the Russian ambassador clarified.

Elsewhere in the interview, Zaspkin shed light on the important and positive role Russia plays in the region. He said, “Moscow always seeks to find political solutions in Syria and the region. It has a roadmap which it tries to achieve through the talks in Astana and Geneva; however, the Americans keep forcing their policies upon Russian approach, to the point of chemical use in Syria allegations.”

“This is completely unacceptable. It will not pass without reproach, unless Washington rethinks its aggressive policies. Until then, we are ready for talks,” the Russian official stated.

Accordingly, the reelection of Putin for a fourth term in a row with a landslide 76% of votes is an evidence of the popular backing for Russia’s policies in the region; the policies which made Moscow a country accounted for, especially by the United States.

“Putin’s reelection is a completion of an important phase in Russia, as it signals more progress and prosperity, as well as optimism for better years to come,” Zaspkin concluded.

The Arabic-language Palestine al-Yawm news agency reported that three rounds of shell struck an observation post belonging to the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement east of al-Shujaya neighborhood in Gaza City, injuring a civilian who was taken to al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City to receive treatment.

The Israeli military frequently bombs the Gaza Strip, with civilians being the main target of such attacks.

Israel has also launched several wars on the Palestinian coastal sliver, the last of which began in early July 2014. The military aggression, which ended on August 26, 2014, killed nearly 2,200 Palestinians. Over 11,100 others were also wounded in the war.

The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli siege since June 2007. The blockade has caused a decline in the standards of living as well as unprecedented levels of unemployment and unrelenting poverty.

The Israeli regime denies about 1.8 million people in Gaza their basic rights, such as freedom of movement, jobs with proper wages as well as adequate healthcare and education

The pieces of this entire story are slowly coming together. The picture that is emerging is erroneous and spurious at best, at worst, its shows a desperate government at work to save itself from a chaotic implosion.

The existence of the so-called Novichok (Russian for Newcomer) chemical agent was originally manufactured at the height of the Cold War in the 1970s and 80s and disclosed as a chemical weapon by Russia in 1993. Russia joined the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction in 1997. Russia has since (unlike the U.S.) destroyed all left over stocks from the Soviet Union chemical weapon program. This was confirmed in a NYT article of September last year. Putin himself made quite a public affair of the destruction of its last remaining chemical weapons stockpile, who then went on to accuse the USA of not doing the same as per the signed international agreement. There is no evidence that Russia is still producing chemical weapons.

It should be remembered that these agents and their formulas are not an exclusively Russian knowledge or product:

One of the key manufacturing sites was the Soviet State Scientific Research Institute for Organic Chemistry and Technology (GosNIIOKhT) in Nukus, Uzbekistan. Since its independence in 1991,Uzbekistan has been working with the government of the United States to dismantle and decontaminate the sites where the Novichok agents and other chemical weapons were tested and developed.

The evidence that Novichok can only be from a state laboratory is false

From Weapons of Mass Casualties and Terrorism Handbook (yes, there is one) comes this statement “with the break-up of the Soviet Union, the Novichok Agents (or scientists who know how to manufacture them) may well be available to a terrorist at the right price. Considering that detection and treatment of these agents are not well established, the Novichok agents would prove to be quite problematic if used as a weapon of terrorism. The ability to manufacture free of controls makes them quite appealing.”

And contrary to what the entire media has written comes this: “The Novichok agents are far easier to manufacture covertly because they can be made with common chemicals in relatively simple pesticide factories. In the words of Vil Mirzayanov (Russian chemist best known for revealing secret chemical weapons experimentation in Russia, particularly Novichok, was employed by the State Research Institute of Organic Chemistry and Technology)”

“The weapons originality lies in the simplicity of it components, which are used in civilian industry which cannot therefore be regulated by international experts.”

For making that statement, Mirzayanov was tried for treason in Russia. However, the case collapsed and he left Russia to live in the USA, where presumably his skills as a chemical weapons expert continued.

In the meantime, the British press have gone into peak propaganda mode.

The Independent reports that (temporary) Wiltshire Police Chief Constable Kier Pritchard said “dozens of people were exposed to nerve agent.” It then goes on to admit that the number was 21, including Skripal and his daughter – and several of his police force. He told Sky News: “We’ve had multiple officers involved.” The total according to this piece could not have been much more than say 15, not ‘dozens’.

Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, a Wiltshire Police officer who was among the first to give help to the spy is now Britains hero police officer and been plastered all over the press for his heroic actions. None of the other police officers, members of the emergency services or NHS or members of the public have been identified or interviewed. None have been hunted down by the press or had their pictures taken, Not one of them has come forward.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd said earlier on Thursday: “The officer was one of the first responders on Sunday, acting selflessly to help others.”

A meeting of Cobra, the government’s emergency committee, took place last Wednesday. Boris Johnson subsequently warned Russia that a robust response was forthcoming. So did Gavin Williamson – both jumping the gun prior to any actual hard evidence that the Russian state was responsible. At this moment (Tues 13th 04.16 GMT), no actual evidence exists irrespective of the claims made.

The UK Office of Communications (Ofcom) will now review possible measures against the RT broadcaster – and a FIFA World Cup boycott looms with the British now asking Australia and others to follow suit. According to The Times, officials are already talking about preventing senior British politicians and officials from attending the event. Prince William, who is president of the Football Association, has confirmed he will now not be attending – all of these actions were announced prior to Theresa May’s “highly likely” statement.

And now the American’s are going full throttle in support.

With no hard evidence, US Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, says the substance “clearly came from Russia” – a fact he said “will trigger a response.”

The Washington Examiner’s article is pure comedy: “But the Russians also know that the British know that it was them. It’s thus a very Putin-style way of saying, “LOL.” Similarly, the assassins will almost certainly turn out to be cutouts without obvious direct links to the Russian intelligence services. And they will have been acting under Putin’s orders.” This article cites not one scrap of evidence.

The fact that the Soviet Union, not Russia, developed such agents does not appear to be material. Nor does it seem to be that the manufacture of this chemical weapon was done in Uzbekistan. The BBC confirms that in 1999, defence officials from the US travelled to Uzbekistan to help dismantle and decontaminate the former Soviet Union’s largest chemical weapons testing facilities.

When Tony Blair was in office, he granted Uzbekistan an open licence to import whatever weapons from the United Kingdom they wanted. (Read 2003 article Tony Blair’s new friend by The Guardian).

The notorious authoritarian dictator of Uzbekistan had an abysmal human rights record. It had at one time 6,000 political and religious prisoners. Every year, some of them are tortured to death. The body of one prisoner was delivered to his relatives, with a curious red tidemark around the middle of his torso. He had been boiled to death. Nothing has changed in Uzbekistan since then.

Too many enemies

What is far more likely is that Skripal had too many enemies from too many countries. Skripal is not just a traitor to Russia who sold the identities of dozens of Russian agents abroad to the UK, in exchange for hard cash, he was a traitor to Britain as well, as he is a well known double agent.

As we reported in our story “There’s More To This Story Than Meets The Eye” – Skripal’s attempted murder occurred just down the road from Europe’s largest stockpile of deadly nerve agents and chemical weapons laboratory at Porton Down.

If anything, the involvement of Skripal in the Steele dossier and the CIA/MI6 operation against Donald Trump could well have created new enemies. Was he assailed because he threatened to talk about it? After all, Skripal would do anything for money.

Skripal – human shield

Right at this moment, Theresa May’s government could do with a shield from the disastrous mess it finds itself in. From cabinet chaos, bitter feuds and political backstabbing, where even the pro-Conservative Times newspaper warned recently that Theresa May’s government “has shown signs of tipping into anarchy as ministers flout her authority.”

The FT highlighted just last month that “Brexit chaos shatters Theresa May’s illusion of unity” as it opined that “Theresa May is rapidly facing the crunch point.”

Lord Bridges, former Brexit minister, was urging Mrs May to get a grip as civil servants, desperately seeking some kind of political lead, have tried to fill the policy vacuum as the government is engulfed in crisis.

For all of the actual evidence, of which there is nothing but speculation, it is just as likely that this is Theresa May’s “45 minute attack warning” – just as it was for Tony Blair, which was one of the most fraudulent claims ever made by the British government, supported of course, by the mainstream media.

Theresa May herself has used her words carefully. The PM said it was “highly likely” Russia was responsible for the Salisbury attack. She did not say, Russia wass responsible. There’s a difference.

The American’s are making big of this opportunity. A good EU Brexit deal between Britain and the EU27 would not be good news for American corporations who are looking to fully exploit Britain, whilst keeping a NATO alliance partner (at a time when the EU is creating its own military force). In addition, the EU is already feeling the effects of American sanctions on Russia and wants this to end, so they can continue to trade. For America, pulling the UK further away from the EU has more benefits than otherwise.

A desperate government will do anything to stay in power, especially this one. No doubt, the usual suspects will call us out as a ‘Russian apologist’ for saying so, but the fact of the matter is that there are no facts, otherwise they would have been proudly presented in a ‘told you so’ fashion.

Headquartered in Tel Aviv, “Israel’s” Mossad is tasked with gathering and analyzing intelligence, as well as carrying out special clandestine operations beyond “Israel’s” borders.

With an average annual budget of USD 2 billion, the agency’s work is shrouded in mystery, and as a rule, details about its operations emerge years after the fact. Until 1990, even the identity of the head of the Mossad was kept highly secret.

Today, the agency continues to be the guarantor of ‘security’ for Jews – regardless of whether they live in or outside of “Israel.”

And even though it is estimated to employ only between 1,200 and 2,000 people – including just a few dozen active officers – the Mossad is still able to conduct operations worldwide by relying on a vast network of foreign nationals of Jewish dissent.

Projections put the number of foreigners willing to assist “Israel’s” clandestine services in the tens of thousands.

Working strictly as unregistered operatives, these individuals offer financial assistance, put their properties at the disposal of the agency, and spread propaganda. Most are judges, journalists, and members of the security services.

The Russian Web

Initial reports of more recent Mossad operations in Russia came in 2012, when geopolitical analyst Arayik Sargasyan claimed that the “Israelis” stood behind the music band ‘P…. Riot’.

The conclusion was that Tel Aviv was ‘unhappy’ with the government of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Today, “Israel’s” disapproval of the Kremlin’s alliance with Tehran, its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and its backing for the Palestinians manifest themselves in far more dangerous ways than bad lyrics.

Moscow has also been stepping up prosecutions against Russian Jews on criminal and espionage charges, which includes prominent figures like the former head of the powerful Russian Jewish Congress, as well as the former chief of the Yukos oil empire, Mikhail Khodorkovsky – also said to be “Israel’s” man.

All of this has only increased the degree of hostility toward Moscow by “Israel’s” Mossad, the UK’s MI6, and the American CIA, as their agents begin to feel less at home in Russia.

Perhaps it is not all surprising then that the “Israelis” have become vastly entangled in conflict zones regarded as having the utmost strategic importance for Russia, including its neighbor Ukraine.

In 2014, rebels in eastern Ukraine discovered the body of Michael Falkov following heavy clashes with battalions loyal to the Kiev government. Falkov was identified through his “Israeli” passport, which was also found on the corpse. The news itself is hardly groundbreaking given the high numbers of ‘former’ “Israeli” soldiers fighting in Ukraine every day.

But Falkov wasn’t just any “Israeli.” He also happened to be the former advisor to both “Israel’s” Benjamin Netanyahu and Avigdor Lieberman.

Alternative Russian media outlets that accuse the “Israelis” of attempting to recreate the Palestine scenario by suppressing the local population and resettling a growing number of Jews in countries like Ukraine, also asserted that Falkov was in fact working for the Mossad.

Meanwhile, in Russia itself, there is no shortage of local talent for the Mossad to recruit from.

Particular areas of interest for Russian counterintelligence operatives include social Jewish organizations, especially in Russia’s far east. These groups, which number in the hundreds, are reportedly saturated with “Israeli” spies that select the most skilled and talented youths and organize their departure to “Israel.”

In fact, Moscow believes that “Israeli” advances in the military, economic and scientific fields are made possible partly thanks to Russian emigrants.

During the good old days of the Cold War, the “Israeli” war machine enjoyed considerable benefits from Mossad agents and collaborators in the former Soviet Union.

Both KGB and GRU operatives passed on highly classified information to Tel Aviv about the supply of advanced weapons to Arab states. They also provided full lists of Soviet advisors stationed in Egypt and Syria, as well as information about planned military offensives.

Moreover, a considerable number of Russian Jews trained by the KGB and GRU are reported to have ended up in “Israel” and in the service of the Mossad.

By the 1970s, “Israel’s” intelligence and defense community had been receiving a sizable injection of expertise with the arrival of tens of thousands of Jews from the USSR.

Among them were Red Army officers and Russians who worked in secret military facilities.

In the decades that followed, “Israel’s” knowledge of Russian weapons programs became so intimate that by the time a Russian general began upgrading Syria’s chemical weapons program, Tel Aviv was immediately alerted.

The late General Anatoly Kuntsevich also happens to be the former head of the Novichok project – the deadly nerve agent reportedly used in an attempted murder of a retired Russian double agent on UK soil last week.

In April 2002, in circumstances that remain unknown, Kuntsevich died during a flight from Aleppo to Moscow. The Syrian security services maintain that the Mossad managed to reach and poison the Russian general.

Whatever the truth may be, the Kuntsevich affair appears to underscore the Mossad’s familiarity with both Novichok and its chief architect.

And according to the US Congress Office of Technology Assessment, “Israel” possesses a sizeable weapons of mass destruction program, which includes chemical warfare capabilities and an offensive biological warfare program.

These facts become even more significant when one takes the emblem of the Mossad, enshrined with the words of an old proverb, into consideration; “where there is no guidance, a nation falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.”

“You are waging the war against terrorism on behalf of all the world as the ongoing battle is not only of Syria; you have been changing the world balance through every bullet fired by you against terrorists and every tank driver has been reshaping the world map with every meter forward.” H.E. President Assad addressed the heroes of the Syrian Arab Army.

H.E. President Assad met during the visit crowds of civilians who were liberated from the grip of terrorists in Eastern Ghoutta.

The citizens gathered joyfully around President Assad and heartedly narrated some episodes of their suffering, hunger, fear amd misery during their imprisonment by terrorists as human shields, shouting ”with our soul blood we sacrifice for you President Bashar”.

H.E. President Assad asserted that the Syrian People are proud of every Army Soldier in defense of Syria and take pride in the field accomplishments against terrorism as to restore peace, security and save the lives of the civilians from the terrorists and their backers.

The mainstream media (MSM) is in rage as Vladimir Putin has de-facto secured a new presidential term with 76.66% of votes [voter turnout is currently 67.98%] after 99.84% of ballots have been processed.

Vladi­mir Putin cruised to victory Sunday for another six-year presidential term after an election that was long on spectacle and short on suspense.

From the Arctic to the International Space Station, Russia rolled out an elaborate election-day display designed to show the breadth of Putin’s public support as he extended his tenure for a fourth term to 2024.

State employees, pensioners and residents of rural areas, all of whom depend heavily on the government, tend to vote for Mr. Putin out of a combination of enthusiasm, habit and blackmail.

…

There were scattered reports of the usual election irregularities, with a few observers harassed or beaten and video cameras catching some ballot-box stuffing.

…

Mr. Putin, a former Soviet intelligence officer, barely bothered to campaign, except to stress his constant theme that Russia was a besieged fortress and that he was the only man to keep it safe by rebuilding its arsenal and projecting power beyond its borders, especially in challenging the United States.

Russian President Vladimir Putin basked in his biggest ever election victory on Monday, extending his rule over the world’s largest country for another six years at a time when his ties with the West are on a hostile trajectory.

Putin’s victory will take his political dominance of Russia to nearly a quarter of a century, until 2024, making him the longest ruler since Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. Putin, who will be 71 at the end of his term, has promised to beef up Russia’s defenses against the West and raise living standards.

The mainstream media (MSM) is in rage as Vladimir Putin has de-facto secured a new presidential term with 76.66% of votes [voter turnout is currently 67.98%] after 99.84% of ballots have been processed.

Vladi­mir Putin cruised to victory Sunday for another six-year presidential term after an election that was long on spectacle and short on suspense.

From the Arctic to the International Space Station, Russia rolled out an elaborate election-day display designed to show the breadth of Putin’s public support as he extended his tenure for a fourth term to 2024.

State employees, pensioners and residents of rural areas, all of whom depend heavily on the government, tend to vote for Mr. Putin out of a combination of enthusiasm, habit and blackmail.

…

There were scattered reports of the usual election irregularities, with a few observers harassed or beaten and video cameras catching some ballot-box stuffing.

…

Mr. Putin, a former Soviet intelligence officer, barely bothered to campaign, except to stress his constant theme that Russia was a besieged fortress and that he was the only man to keep it safe by rebuilding its arsenal and projecting power beyond its borders, especially in challenging the United States.

Russian President Vladimir Putin basked in his biggest ever election victory on Monday, extending his rule over the world’s largest country for another six years at a time when his ties with the West are on a hostile trajectory.

Putin’s victory will take his political dominance of Russia to nearly a quarter of a century, until 2024, making him the longest ruler since Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. Putin, who will be 71 at the end of his term, has promised to beef up Russia’s defenses against the West and raise living standards.